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World J Gastroenterol. Dec 21, 2018; 24(47): 5331-5337
Published online Dec 21, 2018. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v24.i47.5331
Percutaneous ablation for perivascular hepatocellular carcinoma: Refining the current status based on emerging evidence and future perspectives
Tae Wook Kang, Hyo Keun Lim, Dong Ik Cha
Tae Wook Kang, Hyo Keun Lim, Dong Ik Cha, Department of Radiology and Center for Imaging Science, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul 135-710, South Korea
Hyo Keun Lim, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, SAIHST, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul 135-710, South Korea
Author contributions: Lim HK and Kang TW contributed to concept and writing of the article; Cha DI and Kang TW contributed to critical review and final approval of the article.
Supported by Nano-Convergence Foundation, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP, South Korea) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE, South Korea), No. R201603110.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors do not have any conflicts of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author to: Hyo Keun Lim, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Irwon-ro 81, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-710, South Korea. rfalim@skku.edu
Telephone: +82-2-34102505 Fax: +82-2-34102559
Received: September 19, 2018
Peer-review started: September 19, 2018
First decision: October 16, 2018
Revised: October 24, 2018
Accepted: November 2, 2018
Article in press: November 2, 2018
Published online: December 21, 2018
Processing time: 93 Days and 8.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Recently safety concerns have been raised regarding the risks of radiofrequency (RF) ablation for perivascular hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs), due to the risks of ischemic complications and intravascular tumor spread during treatment. To overcome these potential risks, a modified RF ablation technique, cryoablation, combined treatment with transarterial chemoembolization, or microwave ablation could be problem-solving tools for the treatment of perivascular HCCs. However, the effectiveness of these techniques should be validated with further prospective studies due to the lack of current evidence.